Senior advisor in impact programming & fundraising

Eliana is specialized in purpose-driven programming and gender lens investment. Her experience includes working not only with NGOs in integrated protection programming, but also with startups, innovators, and investment funds, on impact investment strategies. As such, Eliana has worked, for the past 10 years, at the intersection between social programming, gender, and impact investment. Most recently, she advised the AlphaMundi Foundation.

At Mindset-PCS, Eliana trains and advises impact startups and NGOs in impact fundraising.

Senior advisor in impact innovation & partnerships

Adrian is a true social entrepreneur with a wealth of experience working with public sector partners, governments, UN Agencies, and INGOs in the development and humanitarian context. He developed a diverse skill set while working at consultancy firms and multinational companies, that he has applied to humanitarian and development innovations. As the founder and managing director of AFRIpads Kenya, he navigated the demanding and fast-paced environment of a start-up that works closely with refugees across sub-Saharan Africa, scaling the company’s operations to 15+ countries. Working at all levels, from pilots in the field to managing global partnerships with UN agencies, allowed him to gain a thorough understanding of humanitarian operations and the needs of crisis-affected people. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Adrian established SymptoTrack, a digital open-source platform tracking COVID-19 in the Netherlands. In collaboration with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, the Ugandan Ministry of Health and TNO (Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research), application of self-learning algorithms for early detection of COVID-19 in LMICs is being explored. 

At Mindset-PCS, Adrian leads the Google for Sustainable Development program since 2021.

Managing Director, Senior advisor in humanitarian-development nexus

Ophelie has been working at the intersection of international law, diplomacy, human rights, international development and humanitarian assistance for the past 17 years. – including 5+ years with United Nation agencies, and 8 year of field work in the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa, including 5 beautiful years in South Sudan, Ophelie’s second home. Her areas of interest and expertise include: integrated protection and livelihood strategies in complex an volatile environments; gender mainstreaming and GBV risk mitigation; The climate-humanitarian nexus; community resilience; and humanitarian innovation.

Ophelie’s professional pathways ha led her to work extensively on rethinking the aid sector by prioritizing genuine community-led approaches; promoting innovative and creative cross-sectoral partnerships; leveraging innovation and technology to improve humanitarian, social, and environmental outcomes; and seeking new and diverse financing models.

Ophelie holds a Master in International Law (LLM) from the University of Amsterdam and a Master of International Affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) of Columbia University.

Senior discourse advisor for social impact initiatives

David is an expert in language strategies (PhD) and a former journalist (10+ years). He specializes in turning complex or technical topics into simple words and stories, especially for social impact initiatives. He also teaches in the Communication Department at Tel Aviv University.

At Mindset-PCS, he helps impact startups, social entrepreneurs and NGOs develop consistent and impactful narratives to accelerate their global impact.

Advisor in community leadership & innovation in humanitarian settings

Advisor in innovation ecosystem building, social business, and impact (West & Central Africa)

Steve is a key leading actor in the tech entrepreneurial system in Cameroon and West Africa. He is the Executive Manager at ActivSpaces Cameroon, the first tech hub in the country for digital entrepreneurs. He is also the President and Chair of KmerTech, the National Hubs Network in Cameroon.  Steve is also a Board member of AfriLabs, the Pan-African hubs network that supports more than 320 hubs on the continent. Additionally, he has supported entrepreneurs in Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana,and  Nigeria. He has also contributed to building tech ecosystems in Tanzania, Senegal and Burkina Faso. Steve’s understanding of, and devotion to, the entrepreneur’s ecosystem stems from his entrepreneurial spirit. He has co-founded Gifted, an education, e-commerce platform, Root Café, and most recently Free-Thinking innovation. Steve also co-founded Makrea, a branding and communication company.  Previously, Steve was the Managing Director of The Bridge International School in Cameroon and prior to that, a teacher at George Dixon International School in the UK. Since 2019, Steve has been working with a non-for profit organization in Cameroon comprising six orphanages that facilitate education for about 60 children. In 2007, he won the Afro-caribbean youth achievement award (ACAP) and in 2005, the Princess Diana Award.

Advisor in impact innovation & emerging markets (East Africa)

David is a humanitarian innovation expert who has been working at the crossroads of the international development-, humanitarian- and private sector for the past 15 years in East and Central Africa. His expertise in humanitarian operations was built through years of field experience in different crisis and displacement settings in East Africa while working for UN agencies and NGOs. His areas of expertise include: analyzing humanitarian markets and adoption of new innovations; and community resilience and livelihoods support particularly in protracted emergencies and in the humanitarian-peacebuilding continuum. After more than 6 years in the UN and 5 years in the private sector, David identified that many great innovations were not gaining traction in the humanitarian market owing to a deferential in the modus operandi of the stakeholders. He therefore moved to work with like-minded experts to help innovators and entrepreneurs effectively reach humanitarian markets with technical solutions and business models that are more market responsive, scalable, and aligned to humanitarian parameters. In 2019, David was a fellow at the Milken Innovation Center in Israel where he assisted a renewable energy company in identifying market opportunities in emerging markets and adjusting its business models. He also supported a cohort of humanitarian WASH innovators through a demand-driven ideation process for solutions targeting humanitarian markets with the Pears Program for Global Innovation.

David is positioned to offer technical and advisory support to scaling innovations designed for humanitarian markets in Sub-Saharan Africa – especially Kenya, his home country, as well as Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, and South Sudan.

Advisor on women-led innovation in humanitarian settings

Suzan Pasquale is the Founder and Executive Director of the women-led South Sudanese Community-Based Organization Women Advancement Organization (WAO) in South Sudan. Suzan is a feminist activist who contributes to building a resilient society in South Sudan. Despite being a survivor of early forced child marriage at 16, she rejoined school, and later established Women Advancement Organization to uplift the standard of women and girls. 

WAO works to empower and support marginalized groups through gender transformative and integrated livelihoods, peacebuilding and protection programming.  WAO is part of the consortium of community-based organizations, RISE-South Sudan – a platform that advances the role of South Sudanese humanitarian NGOs in humanitarian planning, implementation, implementation, funding allocation and overall decision-making in South Sudan – supported by Mindset-PCS.

Suzan is a graduate of Social Science and Master’s degrees in Mental Health.

Gender & community protection advisor in humanitarian settings (Gender-Based Violence, Child Protection, MHPSS)

James is a South Sudanese humanitarian professional who has worked in the protection sector (Gender-Based Violence, Child Protection, and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support) in East Africa for the pat 12 years. James has a solid expertise in designing and supporting community-centered protection mechanisms. James has extensive experience building the capacity of cross-sectoral actors on integrated protection, including social workers, the police, legal and medical personnel, community leaders, schools and more. 

James holds a Masters degree in Peace and Development Studies from the Institute of Peace and Security Studies at the University of Juba, and a BA in sacred theology and social studies, with a major in medical ethics, from the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome, Italy.

Advisor in community resilience

For the past decade Natalie has been working in the humanitarian-development nexus in five continents, developing and managing community-centered projects in food security, WASH, education, protection, and disaster risk reduction. Since the COVID-19, Natalie has been extensively involved with the refugee and asylum seeker community in Israel in various capacity.

Natalie was part of a comprehensive research, led by Mindset-PCS, exploring innovation employment pathways for the economic inclusion of refugees and asylum seekers in Israel in 2022-2023.

Natalie graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Hebrew University with a Masters degree in international community development.